Listen to the music

If you're wondering why the AARP would start an 18 channel internet radio station, you only have to go as far as Milwaukee's Summerfest to find the answer.

Along with contemporary artists like  Girl Talk, Jason Mraz, Guster, Maroon 5, Ben Harper, Fuel, The Black Keys, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Meat Puppets, the "World's Largest Music Festival" also showcases a ton of boomer friendly acts.

Peter Gabriel, Buddy Guy, Hall and Oates, Meat Loaf, Max Weinberg Experience, REO Speedwagon, George Clinton, Styx, Taj Mahal, Loretta Lynn, Blue Oyster Cult, Jayhawks, Paul Rodgers, Peter Frampton, The Spinners, Kansas, Leon Russell, The Flaming Lips, America, Toots and the Maytals, and Todd Rundgren are all playing feature slots on stages throughout the festival grounds.

AARP, an organization of which I am now a member, is populated with people who came of age during the summer of love. Their ranks are filled with Deadheads, Beatlemaniacs, and Disco divas. As such the channels are not all Sinatra and Doris Day (although you will find them there).

AARP knows as well as any organization that people do not adopt the attitudes of the demographic they're moving into. They bring their attitudes and behaviors with them. Just because I'm an AARP member, doesn't mean I'm all of a sudden going to move to Boca, buy a Cadillac DTS and start eating dinner at 4 in the afternoon.

If you want to stay relevant, pay attention to the people who are moving into your brand family and be ready to evolve.